Congratulations  to those shortlisted for round 2 of the Anamika Prize

From our mother Anamika Anamika, Unnayan Amitabh and I

Learned how to have an intimate relationship life

With a glimmer of hope amidst chaos and hopelessness

To weave dreams for others

And send pigeons to the moon

To listen to fireflies on purple nights

And wait for them before going to bed

To treasure failures

And storms

And hurricanes

To invert the rainbow

And play with the clouds

To look at windows as treasures to our souls

To find meaning for yourself by finding meaning for others

To look at life from the eyes of the persecuted

To sing for those who have been marginalised

To stand up for those who have been drowned out and desperately need a voice

Adventure is in the mundane, she says

You just need to listen carefully

Mother, knowing you has been the adventure of a lifetime. What will we be without you!

“Knowing someone is a passionate leap

first outside your being

and then deep within it

It sends out ripples on the surface of the waters

over the pond for a long time.

Knowing someone is to become pond, river, ocean and rain.

Knowing is a departure

Clouds rain once

trees three times

after every rain, when you shake their branches

Knowing someone is like

gradually remembering

all things, forgotten,

sunk deep in memory

Knowing someone is

becoming

trembling leaves

catching raindrops.”

*** When mom won the Sahitya Akademi award earlier this year, Unnayan and I set up the Anamika Prize for young poets.

https://www.networkcapital.tv/blog/anamika-sahitya-akademi-winner

Today we are announcing the Gen Z poets shortlisted for Round 2. This is the selection criteria. https://www.networkcapital.tv/blog/genz-poets

You will see their poems shortly on Network Capital . Hope they inspire you to write 🙂

Wish them well as the prepare for the next round.

Congrats o nce again. Let us celebrate poets today and every day.